Running away
by kkpuppy
Summary: hey there guys and girls. this is just an idea i had. is it any good? or should i leave it alone?please tell me. it is merlin thrust into the world of criminal minds. he is confused and scared. what will happen?
1. Chapter 1

I look sadly at Arthur. His sword is pointed at my heart. I can feel a single tear roll down my cheek. "Why?" I ask in a hushed tone.

"You're a magic user. You attacked me. I'm sorry Merlin, but you need to die," he says angrily.

There is a flash of light and a girl puts herself between Arthur and me. "You cannot kill him," she says sternly. Arthur lunges, and the girl throws out her hand. As if she thinks she could stop Arthur. The sword sinks into her stomach. I hear Gwen scream in the distance. I can only look at Arthur though. I can see the hatred in his eyes, and the brief ghost of shame and guilt. The girl places her hand on my chest and searing pain wracks my body.

My back slams into something really hard. I fall forward and my stomach heaves. I spill my guts onto the ground. Even that looks weird. It is very dark here. It had been noon a moment ago and now it seems to be the middle of the night. The ground under my hand is hard and cold. Where am I? What the heck did she do to me? I struggle to me feet, and bright lights shine in my face. I turn away, and stumble away from the shouts. I trip and blackness surrounds me.

"Where did he go?" Arthur growls at me.

"Somewhere you will never find him. I've sent your friend many years into the future. You will never see him again, and more importantly you will never be able to kill him," I tell him. I collapse to the ground as I cough up blood.

"I should kill you now, but that would end your suffering. I want you to suffer for being a sorceress," he snarls in my ear.

"I wouldn't want mercy from you anyway. Did you even notice that Gwen is dead?" I ask. He whips around and sees Gwen and the puddle of blood she is lying in.

"What happened?" he asks in bewilderment.

"I was aiming at her when you struck me down," I tell him with a wicked smile. He starts swearing, and swings his blade at my neck. I smile because at least I know that Merlin is out of his reach for good. Darkness and pain over takes me before I feel nothing at all.

I wake up with a jerk. I'm in a very bright place with odd things around me. I look around in confusion. A dark door opens and in comes an older gentleman comes in. he is holding something odd and flat in his hands. It looks like a really big piece of yellow paper. He sits across from me at the shiny table. That table alone is amazing. How odd that it is so shiny.

"Do you know why we brought you in?" he asks me.

"No," I tell him.

"You were found at the scene of a crime. Can you tell me how you got there?" he asks.

"No. I don't remember anything," I tell him.

"How did you get all those cuts and bruises?" he asks.

"I was in a fight with a friend," I tell him simply.

"Did your friend lose?" he asks.

"No I ran away," I tell him. I hang my head in shame. "I was supposed to keep him safe, but I ran. He might be dead and I will never know," I murmur. I can't fight the tears. I think of Gaius, and Gwen. Oh god Gwen was screaming. Is she all right? Killgharrah will be pissed. Is he even still alive? And what happened to Morgana and Aithusa, and all of the knights? What has happened to me?

"Are you all right?" the man ask me.

"I think so. Is there anything I can get to eat?" I ask.

"I can ask if anyone can bring something in for you," he says kindly. I nod my thanks and remain sitting in silence. He gets up and leaves.

"He looks like a lost puppy," I comment softly. Rossi comes back inside.

"Did you guys see that?" Morgan asks.

"What?" I ask.

"His eyes flashed gold when he asked Rossi for food," Morgan says. We watch as he gets up from the table.

"How is that possible? We handcuffed him to the table," Rossi murmurs.

"Send Emily in with some food. Maybe we'll get something out of him after he has food in him," Hotchner says.

"But, sir!" Morgan starts.

"You know he will just shut down if we push him too hard. Emily, ask him about himself," Hotchner says.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"He might have amnesia. He hit his head pretty bad when they found him. He tried to run and fell. Just make sure he is sound in the head," he tells her. She nods before going in search of food for him. I watch as he paces around the room, stopping several times to study the table. Tapping it and frowning. What an odd thing to do. Emily enters with the food.

I stand away from the door. A woman comes in with a tray of food. She smiles kindly at me. I give her a tentative smile back. "Hi my name is Emily," she says sweetly. She places the tray on the odd table and sits down. "Please have a seat," she says.

He sits opposite of Emily, and shyly smiles at her. I watch as she pushes the tray towards him. He frowns down at the food. "What is this?" he asks her.

"It's a ham sandwich, and these are potato chips," Emily tells him. She sounds really confused by his question. He frowns some more.

"How do you eat it?" he asks.

"With your hands," Emily tells him. She picks up half of the ham sandwich and shows him how to hold it. He tries and takes a bite. He closes his eyes, and appears to savor the food.

It tastes very odd, but it is food. I can't remember the last time I ate anything substantial. Once the war started I lived on saddle tack with Arthur and Gwen. Not much to pass around from the start.


	2. Chapter 2: stench

I watch curiously as he eats a few bites before setting the sandwich down. "What's your name?" Emily asks him.

"My name is Merlin," the boy says. I probably shouldn't call him a boy. After all he appears to be the same age as me. Is his name really Merlin? His parents must have been hippies or something.

"That's a nice name. Who came up with it?" Emily asks.

"My mother did. My father had to hide before I was born. When I met him a few years later he was dying. He was brave and strong, and in the little time I had with him he was able to teach me a few things," Merlin says simply.

"You say he was brave and strong, but why did he run and hide?" Emily asks.

"He was being hunted for simply being alive. He was a magician and where I come from that is a sin punishable by death," Merlin says.

"Where are you from?" Emily asks.

"A small place off England," he says. How odd that his eyes would flash gold like that. It makes since that he would have lived around England. After all he has a very pronounced accent.

"Why is being a magician such a bad thing?" Emily asks.

"It is considered evil. If you practice magic, you are thought to communicate with the devil himself," Merlin says.

"That sounds like medieval times," Emily says softly. Merlin just shrugs. "How old are you?" Emily asks him.

"Twenty three," Merlin tells her.

"You're really young. What do you do for a living?" she asks him.

"I don't understand the question," Merlin says. He looks completely bewildered.

"Do you have a job?" Emily asks. The look on his face clears for a moment before clouding again.

"I don't think I do anymore," he murmurs.

"What do you mean?" Emily asks.

"I had one back home, but I just got here," Merlin says.

"When did you get here?" Emily asks.

"Right before the bright lights and the shouts," he says. That would mean he was not awake when he was brought here, and dumped in that alley. I wonder how he was transported than.

"Do you remember how you got to America?" Emily asks.

"No, where is America?" he asks. Uh-oh, that is never a good thing to hear.

"You're in America," Emily tells him. He looks panicked and scared, and Emily excuses herself and leaves. "That poor boy has no clue what is going on. And who names their kid Merlin?" Emily says.

"I don't think he is use to these kinds of things. He probably has never seen a ham sandwich with the way he reacted to it," I say simply. We watch as he paces around the room making odd little movements with his hands.

"Is that some kind of twitch?" Morgan asks.

"There are too many possibilities, but I don't think there is anything wrong with him mentally. He seems to be in perfect control of everything," I say. To my utter surprise he walks to the door and opens it without any hesitation. Morgan is out the door and he has him pinned to the wall in a heartbeat.

"What did I do?" Merlin asks in a frightened voice.

"Sorry kid, but we can't let you leave," Morgan tells Merlin.

"Can I use the bathroom?" he asks.

"I'll take him Morgan," I say. Morgan nods and steps away so I can escort Merlin to the bathroom. He follows just behind me silently.

"Am I in trouble for something?" he asks in a hushed tone of voice.

"When we found you, you were at a crime scene. You were next to a dead body and even had some of her blood on you. Until we know for sure that you did not kill her we cannot let you go," I tell him. He stays quiet. I open the bathroom door for him, and he walks by me. I get a sniff of him and recoil. He doesn't notice anything.

I wait outside for him to finish, but I keep thinking of reasons why he smells so bad. If where he is from is so isolated that things are almost the same as medieval times then he was never taught about proper hygiene. "Reid!" Rossi yells at me. I look up at him.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"He checks out. He is free to go. Try to keep him close so we can ask him something if we need to," he tells me. I nod my head in understanding. The door behind me opens, and Merlin pokes his head out.

"Can I ask you a question?" Merlin asks.

"You just did," I tell him. He smiles slightly.

"What is all this shiny stuff?" he asks. He points to all the metal in the bathroom.

"It's metal. We use it to make things stronger so they won't break easily," I tell him.

"Am I going back to that room now?" he asks.

"Did you wash your hands?" I ask him.

"Where is the river?" he asks. I smile a little.

"We don't use rivers for cleaning in America. We use the faucets and sinks and showers," I walk into the bathroom to show him what I mean. He watches me with interest, and tries it himself.

"Are they clean enough?" he asks. He is holding his hands up to be inspected.

"Yes they are. You can come home with me and get cleaned up, before you come back to the office here," I tell him.

"Why do I have to clean up?" he asks.

"You smell like a pig's pen. It is very bad," I tell him.

"Sorry," he murmurs.

"When was the last time you bathed?" I ask him.

"Almost two weeks. Me and my friend were being chased around our island so there wasn't very much of an opportunity to bath," he tells me.

"Why were you being chased?" I ask.

"My friend was prince, and he was being chased so someone else could take the thrown," he tells me. I frown a little at that, but shrug it off.

"Let me tell my boss where I am going and then we will go to my place," I tell him. He nods slowly and follows closely to me.

This place is weird, but so far he is the only one not trying to beat me up. Also he is trying to help me. He is offering up his home so I can fit in better around here. Is he a friend I'm not sure. After what happened with Arthur I am going to be very picky about me friends. Is magic allowed here in America? Or do I still need to hide.


	3. Chapter 3 bath time take two

I redid this for lilyalanssister. I hope it is better.

I stare at the big shiny black thing. What the devil is it?"Come on we don't have much time," Spencer says.

"What am I supposed to do with it?" I ask him in confusion.

"Why you get inside of it so we can go," he tells me. "Haven't you ever seen a car before?" he asks.

"What is a car?" I ask.

"And that answers that question. This is a form of transportation in America," he tells me. I nod my head in understanding. He opens up the side of the big shiny car. "You climb in and the car does the rest. I just tell it where to go," he tells me.

"So it's like a big metal horse, except you don't get wet if it rains?" I ask as I climb in.

"Pretty much," he tells me. He sits in front of me and starts up the mechanical device. Another section on the car opens and in comes the man that attacked me.

"Hotch wants me with you encase you can't handle him," the dark skinned man says simply. I flit over his mind briefly. Derek Morgan is his name. I study him now that he doesn't have me pinned to the wall. He is tall, and dark skinned like Elyan and Gwen were. But he has power like a knight would have. He is strong and he has an attitude like Arthur. I glance over at Spencer. He has more power with books. I would associate his knowledge with Gaius or the book keeper in the royal library.

"You still alive back there?" Derek asks.

"Yes, thank you," I tell him simply.

"So why would your mother name you Merlin? That is a very unusual name," Derek asks.

"Perhaps it is here, but not where I come from. There was Elyan, Gwain, Gwen, Gaius, and Morgana, there are names from my home you probably can't pronounce," I tell them.

"You just named two knights of the round table, and a queen," Derek says.

"You know of the knights? How is that possible?" I ask.

"Reid, do you have the books at your place?" Derek asks.

"Yeah," Spencer says in response. I sit back and enjoy the ride. It is very different than a horse. It is much smoother, and not as smelly. Though judging by the looks on the other's faces I must smell pretty bad. Odd how I never noticed how bad I smelled before. The car comes to a stop, and the others open the sides to get out. I look at the opening next to me, and I can't figure out how to open it. I poke at the opening and my finger runs into glass. How unusual. Normally glass is only used for windows.

The side opens and I see Spencer standing there. "I thought you might have a bit of trouble figuring out how to open the door," he tells me. I nod my thanks, and climb out of the car. I follow them into a big building. I stare for a moment, because it is almost as tall as one of the towers at Camelot. I follow them in and see a big open place.

"You have a very nice house Spencer," I tell him.

"This isn't my house, Merlin. This is an apartment building. That means there are hundreds of other people living in small houses all throughout the building," he tells me. That doesn't make any sense at all, but I don't say anything. They go up several flights of stairs, before exiting a door and heading down a hallway. I follow closely behind them. Spencer stops at a door, and pulls out a key. At least I think it is a key, because it unlocks the door.

"Kid, you got anything to eat?" Derek asks. I follow them into a bright room with a lot of metal things in it.

"There are some left over's in the fridge. Merlin, follow me," he says. He leads me down a cozier hallway to a warm room. He turns a few dials in the wall, and hot water comes down from the ceiling. "Do you know how to bathe?" he asks me.

"Not in a room like this," I tell him honestly.

"Take your clothes off, and get under the water," he says. He turns a few knobs, and the water starts coming down from the ceiling. "You use this in your hair, and you use this on your body. Make sure you rinse thoroughly and do not get it in your eyes. It will burn a lot. Use this to scrub your body, and this to dry off after you are done I will get you some clothes, so just hop in and get started," he tells me before walking out. I place the bottles down on the floor.

The water is warm which is nice. I squirt a bit of stuff from the first bottle and use it to scrub my hair. It gets really bubbly, but I like the way it feels. I rinse it out and get started on my body. I scrub my body really good. It feels really good to be clean. I study the knobs on the wall before giving up. I have no clue what to do with them to shut the water off. I hear the door open and I peek out of the glass door.

"How do you get the water to stop?" I ask Spencer. He reaches in and turns the knobs a certain way and the water stops. I really have to learn how to do that. "Thank you," I tell him. He says something softly before leaving. I get out and dry off, and look at the clothes he brought for me.


End file.
